We made you practice martial arts, and you've mastered the Great Golden Body?

Chapter 156 Iron Body Skill, Upgraded!

It was evening on November 25th, in the 345th year of the new era.

Although the first round of the Golden Cup League knockout stage has only been going on for two days.

However, since each martial arts student can only check their own score and ranking, and cannot see the points of other martial arts students, this creates a sense of urgency even for some martial arts students who are ranked at the top.

They were afraid that the people behind them would catch up with them.

In this atmosphere, not a single martial arts student dared to slack off; they all devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the process of hunting ferocious beasts.

Even as night fell, many powerful late-stage Transcendent Realm martial arts students continued to hunt ferocious beasts in the mountains and valleys.

Of course, some martial arts students who were weaker and in the early to mid-stages of the Transcendent Realm had already found safe places to set up camp.

The mountain forest at night is extremely dangerous.

They came here to try their luck. If they were lucky, they might encounter a group of relatively weak ferocious beasts. Even if they were only first-tier ferocious beasts, they could still earn several thousand points.

Similar incidents have occurred in previous Golden Cup Leagues.

Being ranked in the top 32 of the standings is a victory.

In a mountain forest two or three hundred kilometers away from Shen Bailian.

"Razer Dance!"

As a thunderous roar echoed through the mountains and forests, blinding flashes of lightning exploded in the dim light. Strands of blue electricity, like nimble snakes, tore through the shackles of night, dancing and twirling wildly in the air.

Under this overwhelming force, any ferocious beast that dares to cross the line will suffer a fatal blow.

In just a few seconds, the hissing of the lightning serpent awakened countless ferocious beasts that were about to fall into slumber within a radius of several thousand meters.

The weaker of the ferocious beasts, upon sensing the terrifying power of the thunder, scattered and fled in all directions, seeking safe haven.

Some of the more powerful late-stage second-tier ferocious beasts, though their eyes gleamed with curiosity and longing for the unknown, also chose to leave under the influence of their biological instincts.

The rolling thunder and flashes of lightning intertwined to create a breathtaking scene in the night.

In this battlefield ravaged by lightning, the imposing Yuwen Changkong exuded an air of unparalleled arrogance, his eyes flashing with fleeting lightning.

His bare upper body had clearly defined muscles, and his muscular chest and back were covered with blue-purple lightning patterns that flickered between light and dark, as if they were breathing.

On Yuwen Changkong's chest hung a deep purple bead, about the size of a ping-pong ball, resembling a dazzling star and radiating a captivating light.

Around Yuwen Changkong, several silver-armored demon wolves, each seven or eight meters long and once ferocious, now lay sprawled in the ravaged forest, foaming at the mouth, their fur carbonized by the intense heat of the lightning.

Millions of volts of lightning snaked through the air at high speed. Their proud silver scales were as if they didn't exist in the face of Yuwen Changkong's lightning. Their internal muscles, bones, flesh, and organs were carbonized in an instant.

As a gentle breeze blew by, a foul, acrid smell filled the air.

Yuwen Changkong's feet were suspended in the air, hovering three or four centimeters above the ground. With a wave of his hand, a bolt of lightning struck down, just like a thunder god who controlled the thunder of the world.

After a while~
The dazzling, pale lightning slowly dissipated, and a dense darkness gradually enveloped the earth and forests.

"Slayed a level 18.2 second-tier ferocious beast, the Silver-Armored Demon Wolf, and gained 5 points."

"Kill..."

"..."

Hearing the announcement in his ear, Yuwen Changkong slowly landed on the ground. With a flash of silver light, a new light purple martial arts uniform appeared out of thin air and he put it on.

However, although he had eliminated the surrounding threats, his long-standing good habits prevented him from letting his guard down in the treacherous mountains and forests. With a slight thought, he made a move.

All of a sudden.

An invisible ripple spread out in all directions.

In a short while, the general terrain and the ferocious beasts within a radius of several thousand meters were immediately presented in Yuwen Changkong's mind.

By removing some invalid information, only the valid information remains.

Electromagnetic wave detection!
"Fortunately, we had the Thunder Pearl, otherwise this battle would have been quite troublesome." Yuwen Changkong looked at the silver-armored demon wolves lying scattered around him and slowly revealed a smile:
"My ranking should be stable in the top 32 now, right?"

Although Yuwen Changkong was extremely confident in his own strength, that was only when the gap between them was not significant.

Even with his Nine Heavens Divine Thunder Saint Body, he would be completely helpless against that group of third- and fourth-year martial arts students who were at the late stage of the Transcendent Realm or even close to the peak of the Transcendent Realm.

Because the gap in hard power between the two sides is too large.

The difference in single-arm maximum punching power between a level 18.0 Transcendent Realm martial artist and a level 19.0 Transcendent Realm martial artist is almost double, and their speed and explosive speed differ by 60m/s.

Moreover, a martial artist in the late stage of the Transcendent Realm can form a layer of Force armor on their body, rather than a thin Force veil.

To effectively kill a martial artist in the late stage of the Transcendent Realm, Yuwen Changkong's current lightning output must be stable at over one million volts.

However, he was confident of victory against martial artists at or below the mid-stage of the Transcendent Realm.

Name: Yuwen Changkong

Identity: Ninth Holy Son of the Starry Sky Martial Hall

Points: 1538
Ranking: 11
"Not bad, we've gained over a hundred points in just this one wave."

Yuwen Changkong is quite satisfied with his current ranking.

After all, his current physical fitness level is only 18.0.

The reason why he was able to break through the encirclement of hundreds of late-stage Transcendent Realm martial artists was entirely due to his powerful electromagnetic induction, although it was rather blurry.

However, other martial artists can only use their senses and mental power to detect. Before becoming a third-level mental master, this senses are even more vague and the range is not large, only a few dozen meters or a hundred meters around the body.

"The greatest person in the history of Tiangang Academy?" Yuwen Changkong recalled the information he had seen on Thunder Mountain that day. He had to admit that he was truly shocked at the time. A seventeen-year-old peak martial artist of the Life-Establishing Realm, with six months to go before his birthday.

However, he ultimately took the lead over the young man and broke through to the Transcendent Realm on October 10th.

"I'd like to see if you're truly worthy of this title."

Yuwen Changkong sensed the presence of another group of ferocious beasts. Then, dazzling lightning erupted from his body, and amidst the thunder, he instantly tore through the night sky, rapidly approaching the group of beasts.

Yuwen Changkong came to participate in the Golden Cup League for no other reason than to assess Shen Bailian's worth.

Of course, the most important thing is to see who Shen Bailian is, that he could receive such a high honor.

……

On the afternoon of June 11th.

Above the Wutai Mountain training ground, ten thousand meters in the air.

An extremely large aerospace warfare base is hovering in the air, and around the base, several aerospace fighters are taking off and landing in an orderly manner.

Furthermore, within a radius of several kilometers from the air and space warfare base, there are numerous reconnaissance drones constantly on guard against attacks from birds and beasts.

In a brightly lit operations room, there are thousands of screens displaying the physiological status of various martial arts students, and many staff members moving about busily.

To date, hundreds of martial arts students at the early and middle stages of the Transcendent Realm have been eliminated due to encountering powerful second-tier ferocious beasts.

In the very center of the operations room stood a round table five or six meters in diameter. There were the instructors from the six universities, a member of the Starry Sky Martial Hall, and Yuwen Changkong's protector.
The seven people sat orderly at the table, calmly drinking tea and watching the performance of the martial arts students from various schools. Without exception, all seven were experts at the late stage of the Sea Opening Realm or the Moon Embracing Realm.

"Damn it! There are still shameless people using cheats!" Cheng Shangwu was furious when he saw Yuwen Changkong dominating the scene on the screen with the help of the Thunder Pearl. He slammed his hand on the table with a loud bang.

According to the original plan, the teacher sent by Tiangang Academy this time should have been Duan Wuyai.

However, just before setting off, Duan Wuyai was only one step away from breaking through to the Embracing Moon Realm and needed to go into seclusion for a period of time to cultivate.

Therefore, this task was assigned to Cheng Shangwu.

"Hey, Lao Cheng, you're wrong about that." The burly, muscular Lei Zhentian immediately objected upon hearing this, calmly replying in a low voice:
"What do you mean by using cheat codes? The Thunder Pearl itself is part of Chang Kong's strength."

"It's like how a Transcendent Realm martial artist wields the power of heaven and earth, and a Sea Opening Realm martial artist uses primal force—it's all the same principle." "Pah!" Those present were mostly old friends of many years; surviving was already a rare blessing. Cheng Shangwu, who never bothered to hide his fiery temper, cursed and said:

"This Thunder Pearl absolutely cannot be brought to the arena, otherwise how will the other mid-stage Transcendent Realm warriors compete?"

At this stage, Yuwen Changkong is only at the mid-stage of the Transcendent Realm, which is not enough to trigger celestial phenomena. If he wants to fully unleash the power of his Nine Heavens Divine Thunder Saint Body, he needs to have a power bank by his side.

With the Thunder Pearl, Yuwen Changkong had a stable power source, allowing him to freely use thunder energy as long as he could withstand it.

This is why Cheng Shangwu said someone was using cheats.

“Indeed, Lao Lei, you’ve broken the rules a bit this time. The arena match absolutely cannot be used.”

"..."

“That’s right.” Yu Linglong raised her almond-shaped eyebrows, gave Cheng Shangwu an approving look, and then said, “It’s already a violation of the rules that your Starry Sky Martial Hall temporarily put someone in. Now you’re openly cheating. It’s really not a good thing.”

"Fine." Faced with the joint pressure and protest from the six representatives of the six universities, even though Lei Zhentian was the representative of the Starry Sky Martial Hall, he couldn't say anything more and could only say in a muffled voice:
"I promise you, I will never let Chang Kong bring the Thunder Pearl into the arena."

Although the representatives from the six universities, including Cheng Shangwu, spoke sternly, they did offer Lei Zhentian a way out, only saying that the use of it was prohibited in the arena competition, rather than prohibiting it directly in the first round of elimination matches.

“Old Cheng.” Sitting next to Cheng Shangwu, Yu Linglong tugged at his sleeve and pointed to a light screen, saying softly, “Is Shen Bailian from your academy having problems with his cultivation? This has happened many times already.”

"Moreover, Xiao Shen's score has dropped to 42nd place. If this continues, his chances of advancing to the preliminary rounds will be very slim."

As she spoke, she pointed to her head, the meaning of which was quite clear.

Representatives from the other Liuxing Academy, Sixiang Academy, and Lei Zhentian also turned their attention to the light screen where Shen Bailian was located.

Shen Bailian, like a martial artist with a bloodline, was engaged in a fierce battle with a giant ape king that was seven or eight meters tall, using only his bare hands.

Although they were all surprised by Shen Bailian's strange physical strength, this was the Golden Cup League knockout stage. If he was so recklessly depleting his own strength, it would be a question whether he could even pass the first round of the knockout stage.

"Hahaha, how could that be?" Cheng Shangwu appeared quite composed, laughing heartily, "Xiao Shen must have his reasons for doing this!"

"Could something really have gone wrong?"

Although that's what he said on the surface, Cheng Shangwu was actually starting to feel uneasy, because Shen Bailian had suddenly developed a liking for hand-to-hand combat.

If Shen Bailian is eliminated midway through the competition, Cheng Shangwu will definitely bear the primary responsibility.

After all, Shen Bailian's importance in the hearts of the higher-ups of the Heavenly Gang Academy has now risen to a very high level, and they are willing to protect him at all costs.

"The battle is about to be decided."

"Xiao Shen's physique is truly unimaginably powerful." Cheng Shangwu watched the intense battle and clicked his tongue in amazement, then quickly zoomed in on the light screen.

Representatives from the other universities, as well as Lei Zhentian, also quickly shifted their attention to that direction.

Although this battle wasn't the most intense, it was definitely one filled with primal, violent aesthetics, with every punch landing hard and showing no mercy.

If Shen Bailian can win the battle, he can basically be included in the textbook.

……

Shen Bailian fought the Savage Giant Ape King bare-handed, their fierce battle resembling thunderbolts striking the forest, the surrounding trees already cleared away.

In the instant he retracted his fist, his entire body surged with power, his bones and muscles creaked, and his right leg, like a raging dragon or a black battle axe, swept towards the head of the Savage Giant Ape King with a thunderous roar.

With a loud bang, another sound like a muffled thunderclap rang out. Shen Bailian's figure was like a falling leaf, using the force to fly through the air before landing steadily on the ground.

There was not a ripple.

Caught off guard by the immense force of over a hundred tons, the Savage Giant Ape King's mind went blank for a moment, and it staggered backward amidst the roar.

Congratulations! Your skill "Heavenly Qi" has been upgraded. Experience points +1

Congratulations! Your character level experience has increased by 1.

Congratulations! Your Iron Body skill has been upgraded. Experience points +1

【…】

Passive Skill: Iron Body LV4 (1298/1300)

"After four days, we are finally about to reach the upgrade stage."

Shen Bailian glanced at the panel out of the corner of his eye, shook his hands, and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. It was quite painful. There were also many bruises under his martial arts uniform.

As for the Force Veil, it shattered long ago in the collision with hundreds of tons of force.

If Shen Bailian hadn't been trying to gain experience points and raise his strength to a higher level as soon as possible, he would have already drawn his Dragon Slayer Sword and chopped down that annoying fellow.

"Roar--"

The Savage Giant Ape King felt a sharp pain in its chest and roared angrily, louder than ever before, echoing through the valley like thunder, shaking the surrounding trees and sending leaves flying.

The Savage Giant Ape King was seven or eight meters tall, covered in thick black fur, with several broken, sharp bone spurs growing from its back, and muscles as hard as cast iron, though it had many bruises.

Shen Bailian was like an ant in front of it.

However, it was that tiny ant not far in front of the Savage Giant Ape King that caused it a great deal of trouble, and it was like a leech that it couldn't shake off.

"Roar!!!"

The Savage Giant Ape King could no longer endure this torment. It pounded its chest twice, then leaped up, its massive body arcing through the air before crashing heavily to the ground.

boom--

The ground shook violently, and dust billowed up, obscuring the view.

at this time.

The giant, jet-black ape king's hand struck the boy in the dust with incredible precision, like a black lightning bolt that nearly shattered the sound barrier, causing the surrounding air to vibrate violently and surge with terrifying force.

If it were an ordinary martial arts student, even one at the late stage of the Transcendent Realm, their first reaction upon seeing this would be to dodge.

however.

Shen Bailian did the opposite. The muscles on his arms bulged and suddenly came together, as if forming a huge shield. The huge, pitch-black hand was directly blocked.

But he only held on for a moment before his body flew backward like a bullet.

Bang bang bang!
Several boulders shattered beneath Shen Bailian's feet, and he slid and plowed his way for dozens of meters before finally stopping, leaving a deep trench in the ground.

Upon seeing this, the Savage Giant Ape King's eyes flashed with astonishment, followed by unbelievable joy. It never expected that the elusive ant would be so stupid as to dare to take its powerful blow head-on.

"Roar--"

The Savage Giant Ape King roared once more, its eyes gleaming with excitement. It had already seen the dawn of victory; this ant that dared to challenge it had been completely dumbfounded.

Congratulations! Your Iron Body skill has been upgraded. Experience points +1

【…】

Congratulations! Your Iron Body skill has been upgraded!

Congratulations! Your physical attribute has been improved!

【…】

"It's time to end the battle."

Despite the excruciating pain coursing through his body, Shen Bailian grinned as he felt a surge of warm energy welling up in his lower abdomen, much to the bewilderment of the Savage Giant Ape King.

In the instant the silver light flashed, the 1.8-meter-long Dragon Slayer appeared in the boy's hand.

(End of this chapter)